Chapter 2.6 Evelyn - Into the Future

"I did it" was all Evelyn could think about. She had managed to convince her family to step into the portal with her. Bright, swirling blue and white lights swirled around them, engulfing them completely. 30 seconds went by, the warm, colorful lights started to dissipate, slowly revealing their new location: the future.
Evelyn listened to the exclamations from her family, none of them could believe what they were seeing. Anthony was mumbling something about hallucinations, Silas and Lily seemed exhilarated, and her children were happily gnawing on their fingers. She was left absolutely speechless as she walked over the the railing surrounding the Time Portal.

She looked out across the land, watching people zip by on flying machines, the colorful trees and flowers swaying in the warm, gentle breeze. She could hear a few children laughing nearby, birds chirping as they flew by, and a strange but non unpleasant humming coming from everywhere. She was lost in thought when a shrill noise cut through the air; the blue man had given her a small, rectangular device a week ago, saying he would contact her through it somehow, and now it was the source of the noise. She examined the small device for the 100th time before pressing the word "Answer" on a hunch.
"Evelyn! You made it! I hope the trip here wasn't bad and that you and your family are doing well!" a voice similar to the blue man's spilled out of the device, a phone he had called it.
She lifted the phone up to her ear to hear his voice better, and spoke into it, "Um, hello? Yes, we made it here just fine."
"Wonderful! The building you arrived at is an apartment, you and your family are welcome to stay as long as you'd like, I've paid for your accommodations. I'm also sending over the addresses of your descendants, should you like to meet them. You are all welcome to do whatever you'd like while here, but I do have a few things I want to ask of you, if you agree." How could she not help him after everything he'd done for her?
"Of course, anything." she told him.
"I just want to collect a few samples here and there. The world has changed so much since this all started, and I'm not entirely familiar with it just yet. I just need you to find some 'rainbow dew,' something the residents here are very fond of. From what I've gathered, you can get it from large, colorful flowers..." he went on for awhile, describing the flowers, and a few other things he'd like for her to collect for him.
Evelyn put all that on the backburner for now, though. She wanted to meet her descendants first.

Evelyn found the supplies the blue man left for her and handed out the phones to her family, telling them that they could use it to contact her or each other, if they needed to. She also let them know to pick out a room they liked, and introduced them to their guide, Sherri. Sherri was the blue man's assistant and had offered to show the Rivers around Oasis City, as she'd called it. Once Evelyn was sure her family would be alright for a few hours, she headed over to the address given to her. It took her over an hour to find it, but eventually she found herself standing in front of a very large home. She knocked a few times, nervous about how her future family would react.
Knock knock knock.
Knock knock.

A young man around 15 or 16 answered the door. Evelyn could immediately tell that he was related to her. She could see the similarities in his face, not many, but enough that she could 100% tell he was from her family line.
"Hello?" the young man asked, "Can I help you?"
"Um...hi. My name is Evelyn. Evelyn Rivers...I've--"
"OMG!" he shouted, interrupting her awkward explanation of who she was, "It's you! It's really, really you! OMG!" Evelyn decided that 'OMG' must be a good thing because he seemed super excited.
"Have you heard of me?" she asked him.
"Who HASN'T?!" he did a strange little dance then while clapping his hands, "You're super famous around here! What brings you to MY house of all places! MY house! Mine!"
"Well, I'm your ancestor, I suppose. I'm your great grandma....times 29, give or take."
"WE'RE RELATED???" the boy danced a little more before pulling out his own phone and tapping on it a few times. "I have to tell everyone that I'm related to Evelyn Rivers!!"
Evelyn stood there for a few moments waiting for him to finish what he was doing.
"So...is the rest of your family home?" she asked him.
"Oh yes, yes of course! There's lots of us. My name is Rick. I have two sisters, Annalyn and Caitlyn. My dad is Michael. Everyone should be home by now, come in, come in!" Rick waved her inside, offering food and drinks.

Inside, Evelyn immediately spotted a very green child. She looked at the little girl curiously before asking Rick why she was green.
"Oh, that's Annalyn. She loves to start dew fights. She'll be back to her normal self in a couple hours." he talked while he walked towards the kitchen where a man, presumably Rick's father, was sitting. He looked a lot less like Evelyn than Rick did, but she could still see some of her features in him, mostly his eye shape.
"Hello, Michael. My name is Evelyn Rivers. I'm your...ancestor." She stuck out her hand, instead the man pulled her into a tight hug.
"I know all about you, Evelyn. I've been researching you almost my entire life!"
"He's obsessed!" the little girl, Annalyn, shouted from where she was sitting.
The man blushed a little, but smiled at Evelyn, "She's right. I've dedicated my entire life to learning everything there is to learn about you and your descendants, myself included."
"Wait, you KNEW we were related to her, dad?" Rick interjected, "and you didn't TELL me!?"
Michael ignored his son and continued on.

"Martin, the Time Traveler you've met, approached me years ago. He told me that someday you would come here, to Oasis, to seek me out. I didn't tell anyone," he shot a look at his son, "because I didn't want them to do anything rash." Rick blushed, fidgeting in his seat.
"So, this place, tell me about it." Evelyn needed to know everything there was to know about this time and place.
"Where should I start!" Michael laughed.
"Oooh, tell her about the dew!" Rick suggested.

"Ah, yes, the Rainbow Dew as we call it. We're still researching it ourselves, but the Dew was discovered around 250 years ago. It's most prominent feature is extreme happiness! Everyone here in Oasis is filled with happiness and love! It turned the local fauna into beautiful, vibrant colors, causes rainbows to appear in the sky daily, and even turns us into different colors! It only lasts for a few hours, but we can turn into all sorts of colors! Annalyn is proof of that!"
"So, everyone here is happy? All the time?" Evelyn was a little incredulous about that, a strange Dew was able to make everyone happy?
"Yes! We're not sure why, but it gives off some chemical that makes everyone nearby extremely happy!"
"And it's not dangerous?"
"It hasn't been for nearly 300 years so far!" This time it was Rick.

"Everyone in Oasis is happy, full of love and laughter. There's no hatred here, unlike in other parts of the world. Some people apply to move here, so they can be happy, but it's a long process. We only allow a few dozen or so people in every year. It's not that we don't want more people to share the love though! There just isn't enough room, so we wait until a few elders pass away, or sometimes if someone gets into an accident." Rick looked down at his feet, the smile slipping away from his face for just a moment before it returned.
Just then, Evelyn glass breaking and the air was filled with a strange, rainbow mist. Seconds later, she was filled with the most intense feeling of happiness she had ever felt in her entire life!

Annalyn had bombarded her sister, Caitlyn, the second she'd walked in the door, throwing a small tube of liquid at Caitlyn.

Rick and Caitlyn were both bright pink now! Annalyn laughed until tears streamed down her face.
"Hi, Evelyn!" Annalyn finally greeted her.
"Hello, Annalyn. I like your hat!" Evelyn could see a few resemblances in Annalyn's features to her Uncle Jonathan. She was an adorable little kid.
"Thanks! I want to be a cowboy when I grow up!" A cowboy? Evelyn wasn't sure of what that was, but Annalyn seemed really excited about being one.
"Wow, a cowboy! What's your favorite part about cowboys?"
"I love ponies! I wanna ride them all day!" At least she knew what horses were.

Evelyn stayed with her descendants, the Woods they were called now, for a few more hours before it realized how late it was getting. She needed to check in with her own family.

"Alright, I'm going to head back to my kids now, okay? It was really nice meeting all of you. I can't wait to learn more about you!"
"Aww, you're leaving already? I'm gonna miss you!" Annalyn looked like she was going to cry.
"Don't worry, I'll be back! I promise! I'll even bring you a present next time!"
"Okay!! I hope it's a pony!" Evelyn chuckled at the girl as she headed towards the door. The intense feeling of happiness flooded her again, and she finally understand why everyone walked funny.

Back at their temporary home, Evelyn spotted everyone in what looked to be a common area. She couldn't help but staring at the impressive looking machine, a robot she guessed. She remembered what the blue man had told her, and greeted the robot while a friendly smile. She overheard Silas arguing with one of the residents here, no surprises there. Lily had found something that looked like a canvas and with the help of Sherri, figured out how to use the thing. Anthony had taken to figuring out how to use some of the technology in the kitchen, using it to make many wonderful dishes. He also managed to start making friends immediately. He was already friendly with half the people who lived in this building!

Evelyn headed upstairs to the bedroom Anthony had picked out for them, bee-lining straight for the dresser. Michael had shyly given her some new, modern clothes as a welcome gift. He said she didn't have to wear them if she didn't want to, but thought she might feel like she belonged here if she looked like everyone else. Evelyn had truly embraced the future, and wanted to look the part.
"When in Rome, right?"

She checked herself out in the mirror, and overcome with emotion, hugged herself. She loved her new look!

She also really enjoyed eating cake whenever she wanted to, a rare delicacy on Cyrene.

The next morning, Evelyn announced to her family that they would be heading to the park across the city. She wanted to check it out along with the library that was next to the park, according to her map.

She marveled at the city as they all walked to their destination. She couldn't believe the shear size of the place! And all the pretty colors, and strange metal buildings every where she looked. It was truly a sight to behold.
This is amazing, she thought to herself. I can't believe we're really here! I need to do some research.
Evelyn knew they couldn't really stay in the future forever, who knew what that would do to her timeline. But she needed to figure out how they could leave Cyrene, where they would go.

Finally, the Rivers arrived at the park, right away she spotted a large, almost transparent statue.

It was her! No wonder Rick was so exciting about meeting her. She read the description out loud, apparently she was named The Time Keeper for discovering time travel. She thought about how she had first come up with the idea. She had found a notebook as a child, hidden among Olivia's things. It was in a different handwriting, but there had been no name on it. In it, it had outlined what she needed to do to get started. She didn't know who had written it, how Olivia came to have it, or why she had been the one to find it, but that's how she knew to create the first Time Machine. It seemed like a lifetime ago now.

Anthony approached her, marveling at the statue.
"It's almost as beautiful as you are," he told her.
Blushing, "This all seems like some sort of beautiful dream. I'm afraid that I'm going to wake to find that none of this was real." The thought terrified her.
"Me too. I thought you were insane when you first told me about all this. Then I thought I was insane when that weirdo showed up out of nowhere."
"Emit."
"Right, Emit. When he stepped out of that machine, I thought I had lost it," Anthony looked at her, "But now here we are. It's not a dream or the hallucinations of a mad man. We're really here, because of you. You made this happen."
He pulled his wife towards him and kissed her.

"This was especially worth it to see you in this outfit." Evelyn swatted at him, her cheeks bright red.
"It's what the locals wear!" she defended herself.
"You can wear that whenever you want to, for however long you want to. Well, until we get back to our room, that is..." she saw the mischievous twinkle in his bright blue eyes.
"Later, stud. I'm going to head over to the library, could you grab the kids?"
"Anything for you. In those pants, I would die for you." Evelyn rolled her eyes but laughed along with him.

While the kids entertained themselves under Anthony's watchful eyes, Evelyn grabbed every book she could about history. She needed to find one that went back far enough. She'd even asked the robot at the desk for recommendations, and boy, did it have a lot of them! The robot flew off, returning moments later with a dozen books, dating as far back as Sumerian period. Evelyn had a lot of work to do.

After hours in the library, Evelyn finally put the last book the robot had given her down. She stood up to stretch, feeling her bones crack from sitting on one place for so long. Looking around, she realized that the only other person left was Anthony.
"Hey, where'd everyone go?"
"Silas and Lily took the kids back to the house. They where getting cranky."
"I guess it is getting pretty late..." she felt a little guilty now, for ignoring her children, again.
"It's alright, really. We all know how important all this is to you." Anthony smiled at her, a look of admiration on his face. How did she get so lucky?
"So, I over heard a few people talking about a bar nearby. Want to come with me to check it out? All work and no play, you know?"
"Futuristic nectar? Let's go!" she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the door, eager to have some one on one time with her husband.

"One thing's for sure, at least I recognize a pool table when I see one!" Anthony had said the second they walked in the door.
A few rounds later and Evelyn was losing, big time. She needed to distract him, so she decided that the wall was very interesting and turned around to look at it. It was just a coincidence that her backside was facing Anthony, really.
Of course, Anthony couldn't take his eyes off her and missed his shot. For some reason, though, he didn't mind. He had other thoughts on his mind...
"I wonder how long we can stay here," Evelyn thought out loud, "I doubt we can stay forever, but how long could we stay? How long would everyone even want to stay? I know I love it here. It's only been two days and I've learned more in the past 48 hours than I have in the course of my entire life on Cyrene." She didn't want to leave, ever, but she didn't want to force her family to stay if they wanted to go home.
"Obviously I don't know if you don't know, dear, but I'll always be by your side, no matter what. If you want to stay, I'll stay. The kids are young enough that I doubt they'll ever really remember Cyrene either way. Silas wont be happy no matter where he is, and Lily seems content as long as she has something to paint." Anthony lined up his next shot, this time getting the ball in.
"You're right, I guess. I just don't know. I need more information."
"I need a drink." Another ball in. Evelyn was definitely going to lose again.
"Your wish is my command."
"Mmmm, say that again."
Evelyn sidled up to him, stroking his chest, "Your wish...is my command." She laughed and started walking to where she thought the drinks were made.
"You're not very nice, Evie." he called after her, "You're not very nice at all!"

A few drinks later and they both found themselves naked in a hot tub. Anthony wasn't complaining.
"This is nice," Evelyn murmured.
"The view is pretty great, too." Anthony wiggled his eyebrows at her.
Evelyn scooted a little closer to him, letting him wrap his arms around her shoulders. She whispered a few words in his ears and, after looking around to see if they were alone, they had a long, lengthy chat. 

After being chased off by a very disturbed old lady, Evelyn and Anthony ran towards home, giggling like teenagers.

They both fell asleep with smiles on their faces that night.


Chapter 2.7